This invention relates to ropeways or cableways in general and has specific reference to gondolas or cars for use on aerial ropeways, notably for transporting four or six passengers, and it is the primary object of this invention to provide a particularly simple pneumatic suspension system for gondolas used on such aerial lines, more particularly an efficient pneumatic suspension system which can readily be disassembled when necessary.
The suspension system according to this invention is characterized essentially in that a pneumatic balloon tire, comparable with a light-aircraft landing wheel tire, is inserted in a substantially horizontal position into the space available between the base of a suspension strap supporting said tire and an upper car frame rigid with the carrier framework of the car and bearing substantially horizontally on the tire.
By inflating the tire to a pressure corresponding approximatively to the vibration frequency of the carrying rope, it is possible to absorb vibration, avoid detrimental resonance effects, improve the passenger's comfort and reduce noise.
The suspension strap may have a substantially U-like configuration, with a substantially horizontal tire-supporting bottom and substantially vertical front and rear wings or flanges extending upwardly through the upper frame of the car for suspending the latter from a substantially vertical hanger of which the upper end may comprise a clamp for gripping a carrier and drive rope, in the case of a monocable ropeway.
The strap wings are advantageously rigid with longitudinal arms connected to the front and rear ends of the upper frame of the car by means of shock-absorbers, preferably of the simplest and well-known type, such as engine vibration insulators widely used for mounting automobile engines, so as to damp out rolling and pitch oscillation likely to start and develop unduly as a consequence of wind pressure.